Invasion of Hell, Part II: Dreamless
by secooper87
Summary: What's there to fight for, when you don't dare to dream? A lost, enslaved child.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: The first chapter of the Invasion of Hell, Part II: Dream Stealers. Part II was a little too long for just one chapter, so I broke it up. Tomorrow, we'll get the second chapter.

Then... we're back to Jack and Seo (or... whoever she is, now). In a story called "Mirror Vision".

Enjoy!

(Cover image is one I did myself. Of Buffy holding Aurentia.)

* * *

**Invasion of Hell**

Part II: Dream Stealers

* * *

Aurentia wished she could dream.

She liked to daydream, sometimes. Make up stories inside her head. Or watch the dreams she got at night, and then whisper them to herself, after she woke up, in the hopes that she wouldn't forget. But the Dream Stealers always noticed. Came in the darkness, held her down as she screamed, and sucked it all from her.

With no dreams, Aurentia didn't understand the point of anything.

Hauling rocks from one place to another. Or other mindless, repetitive tasks. Over and over again. She wanted to long for something bigger and better, but didn't know what.

That was when she'd started the diary.

Stashed it away, every time she had a thought. An idea. A dream. A story or a funny anecdote or anything that made her think about something other than rocks. She scribbled it down, and hid the book where no one could ever find it.

Almost no one.

"I kept one of those, once," came a voice, overhead. "Used to write about all the guys I liked."

Aurentia curled up around the diary, her head shooting up, eyes wide and frightened.

The woman was tall, thin, her face sunken and her eyes tired. A grown-up, like nearly everyone else here. But this one had pretty yellow hair and two arms and weird pink skin — which made Aurentia giggle, a little, because she'd never thought it possible to meet anyone with yellow hair and pink skin.

"What?" said the woman. She looked down at herself. "Are you laughing at me? Just because I'm not all brown and furry like you?"

"You look silly!" said Aurentia. Then realized she was laughing, and covered it up. Glancing around herself, worried, thinking she'd see the Dream Stealers any moment, now.

The strange woman sat down beside her. "I'm Buffy," she said. "And I look different because I shouldn't even be here." She paused. Then glanced back at Aurentia. "You shouldn't be here, either. You're too young."

"Where do you come from?" said Aurentia. Her eyes glowing. "Is it a story? Can I listen?"

Buffy gave a long, slow sigh. "Earth," she said. "I don't know where that is, relative to here. I just… keep trying to get back." She paused. Then amended, "_Kept_ trying to get back."

She looked like all the other grownups, when they talked about the things they used to want.

Aurentia had things she'd wanted, once, too. Things that were sucked out of her.

But with her diary, she could think up new things. Things she never realized she had wanted. New goals to long for, new hopes she'd never dared think of!

When she wrote, it was almost like… she could dream again.

But she couldn't.

Not quite.

"Do you want to get back and see your mommies and daddies again?" Aurentia asked. She'd once had eight mommies and three daddies, back home. Before she'd wound up here. "I wanted that, once. Then the Dream Stealers made me not want it anymore."

Buffy gave Aurentia a long, sad look. Then brought the child into her arms, hugging her gently.

"You'll get back home," Buffy promised. "Mommies don't just give up… trying to find their own…"

Tears emerged in Buffy's eyes.

And she couldn't speak anymore.

"Are you a mommy?" Aurentia asked. The woman smelled like a mommy. Even if she looked funny.

"My daughter's dead," said Buffy. "She has to be. There's no hope left."

Aurentia had seen people empty and hollowed out, when the Dream Stealers took everything away from them. But she'd never seen anyone like this, before — so full of grief and regret and passion, despite everything.

The strange woman _wanted_ to dream.

Like Aurentia did.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Aurentia looked around herself. Then leaned in, closer, to whisper into the strange woman's ear. "I can't dream in my head anymore. So I dream in my diary."

Buffy's sobs quieted.

As she looked back at Aurentia.

"How?" Buffy whispered, back.

Aurentia showed Buffy her diary. The words and pictures she drew, the things she hadn't realized she'd wanted until she thought them up. Anything in her head was taken away. But the things on the page… she kept forever.

"A child," Buffy muttered, flipping through the pages. "They can't take away all your dreams. Because you've got too many. One goes away, and another comes to replace it."

"I like drawing," said Aurentia. "Maybe someday, I'll become an artist!"

Buffy looked at the small child, fondly. Then gave her back her diary. "It's good someone still has some hope, here," she said. "Something to fight for." Got up from the ground, her eyes on the work group. "Maybe, some day… I'll find something to fight for, again."

* * *

Aurentia liked Buffy.

The strange-looking woman fussed over Aurentia, taking care of her and helping her when things were too hard or the stones too heavy. She defended Aurentia from the Dream Stealers, trying to divert their attention away whenever they came.

And Buffy told Aurentia stories.

About evil monsters defeated. Lives saved and victories won. Vampires staked, demons banished, hell driven away from the Earth.

Aurentia dared not dream. Not in her head.

But in her diary, she wrote about Buffy's stories. She wrote the new dream she had — to get out of this place and become a hero like Buffy, fighting off monsters and saving people when they were in trouble.

"Why aren't you fighting monsters anymore?" Aurentia asked, once.

Buffy looked away. "What's the point?" she muttered. "Evil always wins in the end."

"In your stories, it doesn't," Aurentia said. Her eyes glowed. "Tell me another!"

Buffy noticed the expression on Aurentia's face. The happy glow in her eyes, and the hope that had overtaken her. "I can't," Buffy whispered. Leaned down, protectively. "The stories are already getting you worked up. Keep going like that, and the Dream Stealers will come. Take them all away from me."

"You could write them down," Aurentia proposed. "Not just old adventures. New ones. What you're doing right now!"

Buffy shook her head, sadly.

Hopelessly.

"Not just for me," said Aurentia. "For your daughter, too. When you get home, she'll probably want to know everything you've done. It's so interesting!"

"She's dead," Buffy said.

Her voice shook, as she said it.

"Then she'll read the stories when she's in heaven," said Aurentia. "You told me when you died, you went to heaven. Wouldn't it get boring, in heaven, with no stories to read?"

Buffy got up. "I've said too much already," she said. Looking around herself, nervously. "The Dream Stealers feel emotions in the air from miles away. If you've got hope, they'll come for you. Maybe even kill you! I can't…!"

Buffy froze.

Then grabbed up Aurentia, tightly, dragging her to her feet.

"Too late," Buffy breathed. Spun around, dragging Aurentia after her. "Run!"

They bolted through the crimson, blood-soaked grass of the hell dimension. The Dream Stealers approaching ever faster, and Aurentia knew — she couldn't outrun them.

No one ever could.

"I've got a ring," said Buffy. "It glows, when there's a way out. I'll take you with me. Get you out of here. Promise!"

"There's no escape," Aurentia squeaked.

"That's the dream-sucker machine talking!" Buffy insisted. Dragging her along even faster. "There's got to be a way out. You're too young to grow up living hopeless and empty like this! I can't…!"

A strange sound echoed through the distance.

A sound Aurentia had never heard.

But Buffy knew it.

It sent a chill running through her, as she froze in place. And turned, slowly, around.

"No," said Buffy. "Not here. Please. Not here."

The Dream Stealers stopped, too. Distracted. They turned, then began to retreat. Back towards the central stone fortress, where they kept the dream-sucker machine.

Screams tore through the air.

Along with a thousand grated, metallic voices, and that strange sound repeating, over and over again.

Buffy pulled Aurentia after her, racing to follow the Dream Stealers. "We gotta get people their dreams back," she hissed. "There's no way anyone here can defeat the Daleks without hope!"

"Daleks? What are…?" Aurentia asked.

"Monsters," said Buffy. "And it looks like they're invading all the dimensions of hell."


	2. Chapter 2

Buffy didn't care about hope anymore.

As she ran through the stone city she and the other slaves had helped build — watching as the Daleks destroyed it and all the people inside it — she felt nothing but instinct. The Slayer inside of her, knowing that she needed to give these people a fighting chance.

And then… she needed to get out of there.

Fast as she could.

Aurentia kept asking her questions. What were the Daleks? Why was Buffy so scared of them? Were they really worse than the Dream Stealers? Aurentia couldn't imagine anyone worse than the Dream Stealers.

Buffy just concentrated on flipping and hurling them both out of the way of the Daleks, so they could get into that fortress.

She had to keep Aurentia safe.

The two Dream Stealers they were following arrived at the front gate. And found the exterminated bodies of two of their colleagues — lying dead, their faces in agony.

The Dream Stealers seemed shocked.

So was Aurentia.

Buffy wasn't.

"This is impossible," said the Dream Stealers. "We cannot die in this way."

"Yeah, but Daleks aren't your average monster," Buffy said, coming out of her hiding place. She clutched Aurentia's hand, tightly. "They're tough. Ruthless. And smart. If there's any way to kill something — trust me, they'll find it."

The Dream Stealers turned.

Noticing Buffy.

And Aurentia.

"The new Dreamer," they said. "She must be protected."

"Yeah, so it's a good thing I'm with her," said Buffy. "Because I'm the only one who knows about Daleks around here. So you better listen to…" She stopped. As what they'd said registered in her brain. "Hang on. 'The new Dreamer'?"

A Dalek emerged from the shadows.

And the Dream Stealers opened the fortress, hurriedly. Ushering Buffy and the other inside. "Protect the new Dreamer," said the Dream Stealers. "Her installation is our only salvation."

"EXTERMINATE!"

The Dream Stealers cried out.

As they surged with energy from the Dalek beam, which zipped through them and made their bodies contract and squeeze in a way that ripped screams of utter agony from their throats…

Buffy yanked Aurentia into the fortress.

And sealed the door behind them.

"That won't hold the Daleks for long," Buffy said. Turning on her heel. "We've got to…!"

Aurentia squeaked.

And Buffy saw that they were now surrounded by Dream Stealers. All looming, threatening them, but none actually attacking.

"The old Dreamer fails," said the Dream Stealers. "The new Dreamer must be installed. Or we will be destroyed."

"You're going to be destroyed anyways!" Buffy insisted. She pointed outside. "You need to give those people something to fight for, or they're never going to fight back! You need to give them dreams, or hope, or—"

She stopped.

Looked down at Aurentia.

"Oh, my God," Buffy breathed. As it suddenly made sense to her. "That's why you let me tell her stories about fighting and stuff. Why you wanted me around her. You haven't been taking away _all_ her dreams — only the dreams you didn't like."

"The old Dreamer dreamt of building and empires," said the Dream Stealers. "The new one thinks of war and battle. That is what we need."

Aurentia squirmed, uncomfortably. "What…?"

"Kids have too many dreams to get rid of them all," Buffy told Aurentia. "You don't know what you want, and it changes all the time anyways. You've got too much imagination, and you think you can do anything when you grow up!"

Aurentia still looked scared.

And confused.

"I always thought it was weird that they didn't just kill you," said Buffy, "since they couldn't ever get rid of all your hopes and dreams. But they weren't eliminating your dreams to make you a hopeless slave — like all the rest of us." She looked down at the child.

Feeling her heart go out to the poor girl.

"They were pruning you… like a tree," said Buffy. "Trying to make you come up with dreams that would be useful to them."

"But… but what do they want with my dreams?" said Aurentia. "I thought dreams were bad!"

"The only hope must be the Dreamer's hope," said the Dream Stealers. "The only ambition the Dreamer's ambition."

Buffy pointed at the Dream Stealers. "Look at them, all talking at the same time and walking in unison and stuff," she said. "I've fought tons of monsters over the years, and I know from experience — these guys are all connected together. Like, in their heads."

"This is true," said the Dream Stealers. "Our thoughts join together. A singularity. To make us strong."

"Yeah, strong but ambitionless," said Buffy. She put one hand on her hip. "You guys don't dream, huh? Then one day, someone who _had_ dreams and goals and ambitions invaded your dimension — probably someone who needed to acquire a huge slave force. They took advantage of how you guys worked, and hooked their own brain up to you. But you stole their dreams, instead, and enslaved that person for yourselves. You've been using their ambitions this whole time!"

The Dream Stealers didn't deny it.

"The old Dreamer fails," said the Dream Stealers. "The new Dreamer must be installed."

They surged forwards, to grab Aurentia away. But Buffy kept hold of the girl, tightly. Wouldn't let her go.

"Hey! No one's getting installed into anywhere, bud!" Buffy shouted. She stepped forwards, eyes narrowed. "Where she goes, I go. And trust me — you don't want to piss off a Slayer."

The sounds of dying grew louder and louder, outside.

And smoke began to waft through the room, as the Daleks started burning their way inside the fortress.

Aurentia squirmed out of Buffy's hands.

And ran towards the Dream Stealers. "If I come with you," Aurentia said, "can I become a hero? Like Buffy? Can I save everyone?"

"Yes," the Dream Stealers said.

Buffy grabbed Aurentia back. "You'll be destroying yourself!" she hissed. "And I'm _so_ not letting a kid kill themselves for some stupid dreamless aliens!"

"I want to be a hero, like you!" Aurentia insisted. A big smile on her face. "I want to beat monsters like the First Evil and the Judge and the vampires. I want to give people back their dreams and let them all go free! I want to dream outside my diary — and I can do that, if I go with them."

"You don't know what you want!" Buffy shouted. "You're just a kid!"

But the Daleks were already half-way through the door.

And she didn't have time to argue.

The Dream Stealers flooded forwards, en masse. Prying the child away from Buffy's grip, Buffy wriggling and struggling to get back to Aurentia and save her from whatever horrible fate awaited her.

But the moment Aurentia was taken from Buffy… she lost hope.

Aurentia was doomed.

This whole hell dimension was doomed. What could Buffy do to change that?

She stopped fighting back. Feeling empty and hollow, once more. As Aurentia and the Dream Stealers faded from sight. Never to be seen again.

Like her daughter had faded from sight.

And now…

What was there left to believe in? What was there left to fight for? Why go on, when Buffy knew that every step she took would be full of evil and hell, and would ultimately lead her nowhere?

The Dream Stealers restraining her felt her hopelessness.

And their grips relaxed.

Then the door fell in.

And the Daleks emerged.

"EXTERMINATE!" they screamed, in tinny metallic voices.

Shooting their gun sticks full blast, striking the Dream Stealers surrounding Buffy, so they cried out and crumbled to the ground, dead.

Buffy stared into the eyestalk of the Daleks.

Then turned and ran.

Fast as she could.

Didn't matter about thoughts or hopes or dreams or anything. This was instinct. Just get away from them. Far away. Fast as she could. Get away and don't ever look back!

The heat from a Dalek gun seared just beside her, but didn't hit her. She spun round a corner, darting through the fortress, never stopping for a single second.

No one left to save but herself.

That was the only thing she had left.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Next up, "Mirror Vision"!

* * *

There was something that looked like a giant jeweled flower, in the center of the room they took Aurentia to. But it was also squishy and gooey, and Aurentia was starting to feel scared, again. She didn't want to be in something squishy and gooey. She wanted to run around outside and play.

There was someone else in the goo.

A normal person, like Aurentia was used to seeing, back when she was home — before she'd been snatched away and brought here. The familiar brown fur and small slit eyes. The familiar snout and three arms, antennae dangling above the person's head.

But the body was wrinkled and old and feeble.

The fur discolored and patchy. Antennae drooping with age.

"You will take the Dreamer's place," said the Dream Stealers. They shoved her towards the goo.

But Aurentia struggled against them.

"I can't be like Buffy in there!" Aurentia insisted. "Buffy fought and punched and hit things that were evil. In there, I'll just be… gooey!"

The Dream Stealers didn't care what she thought.

She couldn't fight them, as they wound themselves around her. Dragging her into the goo, sealing her inside, not caring about her screams or shouts or calls for help…

Then the goo grabbed her. Sucked her down into its depths.

Silence.

Except… in her mind.

Colors! So many colors and bright lights, swirling around. Aurentia could see things beyond her own eyes, like she was listening to a million stories at once and could absorb them all. She watched the monsters that Buffy had called Daleks, as they destroyed this hell dimension, killed everyone inside it. And she felt the minds of all those dreamless people out there, screaming out as they died from Dalek weapons.

More than that.

Aurentia felt the dreams of every person that had ever come here. Their hopes and desires and goals — drained from their minds — now all floating around with _her_, giving _her_ strength and inspiration.

One packet of dreams… she recognized.

A mother's need to save her child. No matter what. No matter how many layers of hell she had to fight through, no matter how many monsters she had to face. That daughter _would _be saved.

"Buffy's dreams!" Aurentia tried to say.

But the goo swallowed her words.

She began to place bits of Buffy's stories into the minds of the Dream Stealers. Inspiring them to fight back against the Daleks, and defeat evil from their world.

And, while she did that, she used everything left of her brain and her imagination to focus on sending that one packet of dreams straight back to its original owner…

* * *

Buffy stumbled, as something burned through her.

Something she thought she'd lost forever.

A need. A desire. A purpose.

"Seo!" Buffy said. Oh, God, how'd she managed to stop fighting for that? How'd she forgotten that this was the most important thing in the whole infinity of creation? "She might still be alive out there. She could be in danger. I've got to get back to her!"

She could already feel the ring on her finger glowing, faintly. Directing her towards one part of the fortress. She must be close to the way out!

But she couldn't leave yet.

One stop, first.

Buffy focused her mind, and spun herself down another corridor.

* * *

It hurt.

Feeling all those Dream Stealer minds, with her dreams inside of them, being extinguished by the Daleks — it sent searing pain through Aurentia, with every death. She tried to cry out, but the goo absorbed all words. She couldn't move. Could only think and dream, and let the others leach off her thoughts.

The Daleks were smart, like Buffy said.

Every time Aurentia thought of something, and that thought was plucked from her goo-home and used by the Dream Stealers, the Daleks found a way to counter it. The slaves were all dead — except for Buffy — and the Dream Stealers soon would be.

As they struggled to defend the area of the fortress where Aurentia was being kept.

Then Aurentia felt something new.

Could watch it through the minds of the Dream Stealers. Approaching the chamber where Aurentia was imprisoned, via the left corridor, a blur appeared in the Dream Stealer guards' vision. And a surge of hope and determination in the air.

The blur resolved itself into Buffy.

Before she attacked them, every move precise and graceful, kicking and punching and flipping until she could knock them out — and Aurentia felt their minds go blank.

Aurentia tried to call out to Buffy. As her own eyes saw — past the goo and into the room that imprisoned her — Buffy finally breaking through the left hand door of the chamber. But this was Buffy as Aurentia had never seen her before, the Buffy of stories. Full of hope and determination. Ready to fight for what she believed in!

At the same moment that Buffy entered, an explosion at the other end of the room blew the right hand door down. And through that other door, the Daleks entered, creeping forwards, gun stalks twitching and spouting out bright searing light, as they chorused, "EXTERMINATE!"

Buffy darted towards the equipment containing Aurentia, crouching down in hiding, as the Daleks began to massacre the Dream Stealers guarding that chamber, one by one.

Aurentia wanted to scream with pain, as she felt those minds destroyed.

But there was no comfort in the goo, nothing but…

The goo shifted.

And Aurentia felt hands wrap around her fur. Felt someone lift her free, the strange visions and colors fading from her mind and the room coming back into sharp focus. Aurentia found herself looking straight into the eyes of Buffy Summers.

Aurentia opened her mouth to speak.

But found herself coughing up goo, instead.

Buffy shushed her. Glanced around them. Then swooped Aurentia up in her arms, and carried her out the back door, racing faster than Aurentia had ever run before.

The Daleks spotted them.

Swiveled their eyestalks around, shouted, "HALT! HALT! OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!"

"And if we halt, you'll exterminate us anyways," Buffy muttered, sprinting even faster. "Who do you think you're kidding?"

Aurentia couldn't stop coughing.

She felt as if she were about to melt. The goo had left her weak and tired, and she was glad Buffy was carrying her, or she thought she might never be able to get away.

There was a band of metal on Buffy's finger.

It glowed, brighter and brighter, as Buffy continued to run.

"What's that?" Aurentia asked, through fits of coughing, pointing at the glowing metal.

"Our way out," Buffy said. Darting along another corridor, past a group of Daleks, who spilled out into the hall and began firing at them. A near miss seared past Aurentia's head. "You're coming with me. I'm not leaving you behind in hell — not for another second."

"Will you take me home?" Aurentia asked. "I miss my home."

Buffy hesitated.

"I… guess I can try…" Buffy started.

Her speech cut off, abruptly, as a swarm of Daleks cut her off, just ahead. Buffy slowed, and stopped. Cursing, as she looked down at the glowing metal band on her finger.

"Maybe it's bright enough," Buffy hissed, through her teeth. "Maybe, if I just focus, really hard…"

"EXTERMINATE!" the Daleks shouted.

Something shifted, around them. Their world going out of focus, like they were lurching.

Then Aurentia's vision went white. As the Dalek beams struck her. She screamed, feeling a jolt of the worst pain she'd ever imagined run through her. Every nerve in her body burned and blazed until she felt she might go up in flames like the brightest star.

Then she felt nothing.

As she slipped away.

* * *

Buffy appeared in the next hell dimension. Aurentia still in her arms.

The girl was dead.

Struck by a Dalek beam, as Buffy had been trying to move them both away from that hell dimension. Maybe the transfer had been slower for Aurentia than for Buffy — who wore the ring herself. Or maybe Aurentia had been struck before Buffy had gotten the chance to activate the ring.

But Aurentia was dead.

And Buffy was in yet another Hell.

Buffy buried Aurentia's body before the demons arrested her and dragged her off to their torments. Another hell, another place to get through so she could find her daughter.

She'd let Aurentia die.

She wouldn't let that happen to Seo. She couldn't.

* * *

Buffy sat down, that evening, when she got a chance. Stole some writing utensils and paper from her captors, and wrote.

Just like Aurentia had said.

_Dear Seo,_

_I'm writing this letter to remind myself that someday, I'll be able to give it to you. Because you're still alive. You have to be. You're too smart to let yourself just be… killed by Elizabeth._

_Keep yourself alive._

_Because I'm coming home for you._

_And I love you. I miss you. I want to see you bouncing up to me again and offering me chocolate because I've spent all day in monster-guts and you're trying to make me feel better. I want to hear your voice again, even if you're just saying something to wind me up because I won't let you do something stupid. I want to hold you and never let you go._

_I will see you again. Alive and well. And happy._

_I have to believe that._

_You might even have gone and done the impossible, escaped and then defeated Elizabeth all on your own, while I've been away. I wouldn't put it past you. My beautiful, impossible little girl…_

_But just in case I get all exterminated before I get home, and you somehow mysteriously get this letter, just remember that what happened with Elizabeth wasn't your fault. She set up the trap — if anyone's to blame, it's her. You did nothing wrong, Seo._

_I blame you for nothing._

_And if you go all self-blamey like your father always did, beating yourself up because you "caused my death" or whatever — I'm so going to come back as a ghost and haunt you until you snap out of it!_

_Love you forever,_

_Mom._


End file.
